


Knock Knock

by carpelucem



Series: I Choose You [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 22:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1281316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpelucem/pseuds/carpelucem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days, Mako wishes she hadn't moved back to Boston. She could have stayed in Berkeley, the Pacific nearby, the best sushi on this continent a skip across the bay. It would have been easy, taking a job in northern California, with her friends and her life around her, three thousand miles away from her family. Instead, Mako packs up her life after college, back to the other side of the country, to the tangled little knot of obligation and love that is her history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knock Knock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mellowdee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellowdee/gifts).



> Because [Melody](mellowdee.tumblr.com) created [this perfect Mako/Raleigh AU](http://mellowdee.tumblr.com/post/74625513643/pacific-rim-mako-mori-raleigh-becket-neighbors) and I couldn't let the thought of it go. 
> 
> Thanks for letting me hijack your idea.

Some days, Mako wishes she hadn't moved back to Boston. She could have stayed in Berkeley, the Pacific nearby, the best sushi on this continent a skip across the bay. It would have been easy, taking a job in northern California, with her friends and her life around her, three thousand miles away from her family. Instead, Mako packs up her life after college, back to the other side of the country, to the tangled little knot of obligation and love that is her history. 

Now, Mako's at dinner at her father's house, twirling fettuccine around her fork, listening to Herc and Chuck arguing over the necessity of a bachelor party before the wedding, and Herc’s denying there’s any point because he and Stacker have already been together for more than a decade. She’s silently counting down the minutes until she can politely excuse herself without making a scene. 

"I'm just saying, Stacker, there are still fish in the harbor, you might find one before you decide to settle for this old man." Chuck's smile is mischievous, though, and Stacker just shakes his head while Herc reaches across the table to shove his son in the shoulder. 

"I still don't know how this one ended up such an ungrateful brat." Herc looks over to Mako with a soft look in his eyes. "We have eight months to go, and Mako's not suggesting some glittery stripper blowout." 

"Only because feathers look good on no one," she says under her breath, and the grin on Herc's face when his fingers squeeze her arm makes the whole thing a little more bearable. Herc's been as much of a parent to her - more, in some ways - as Stacker.

Chuck lays into his ideas for the big day - and who knew a mechanical engineer with a degree from MIT was so into wedding planning, her brother obviously missed his calling - and Mako wonders once again why she's slogging through copy at a design firm downtown instead of working at Pixar, out from under the disapproving weight of her father's gaze, the one that just screams 'all that wasted talent' every time he looks at her. 

Mako had been groomed her whole life for a career like Chuck's, something in science or business, an executive on the board of directors by thirty. Instead, she took art classes, dabbled in the design end of metal shop, and disappointed her father more with each new semester. She's thankful, to that end, for Chuck, who fulfills all of her dad's hopes for a genius in the family, that perfect child he can be proud of, brag about to his circle of well-connected friends. Twenty-three, and her prodigy brother is already published in his field, regarded as some bright new hope for his profession. 

Everyone has pushed their plates back when Mako finally finishes her dinner, and she wordlessly gathers the dishes to take to the kitchen. She’d rather load them into the dishwasher and make her escape, instead of listening to Stacker ask about Chuck's new robotics trials at the dining room table. 

She scrubbing at some alfredo-glued spinach when Herc comes up behind her, picks up a towel and starts drying the damp wine glasses. 

"He doesn't mean anything by it, love. And you know under it all, he just wants you to be happy." His hip bumps hers, and Mako looks over at Herc, sees the encouraging look on his face, suddenly profoundly thankful for her father's faultless good taste in everything, but especially life partners. "He's over the moon you're here. We all are." 

She leans into him, drops her head on his shoulder. "I feel, sometimes, coming home was not the best course of action." 

"Can't say what's right for you, sweetheart." Herc wraps an arm around her, lets her in close. "Missed our girl being around though. Having you and Chuck back here - it means a lot to both of us." 

She stays like that for a moment until she can hear the chairs in the dining room scrape back and Mako's rinsing the plate, smiling gratefully at Herc before Chuck and Stacker crowd into the kitchen. 

Mako closes the dishwasher, and turns to thank her father for the dinner. "It was delicious, thank you." 

"There's tiramisu from The Icebox for dessert, you aren't staying?"

"No, thank you, Father, I must be going." Mako can almost sense a flicker of disappointment on Stacker's face, but she just shakes her head and goes to gather her coat. "Herc, Chuck, I will see you soon." Chuck squeezes the breath from her lungs when he hugs her and Mako raises up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to her father's cheek, catching the nod over his shoulder from Herc. "Good night, everyone." 

Bundling her jacket against the night, Mako heads for her apartment, finally alone with her thoughts. 

\--

She's coming home from work the next evening, rounding the corner onto her street when Mako sees the door to her building propped open, a moving van idling at the curb. A tall blonde man is pushing boxes to the edge of the open back, stacking them in neat rows. As she approaches, another man, also blonde, comes bounding down the stoop, catching her eye as she slows by the door. 

"Hi, how are you?" He wipes his hand on his jeans, offers it to Mako easily. His smile is contagious, open and warm, and Mako finds herself returning it without hesitation.

"Well, thank you. Are you moving in?" 

He cocks his head towards the other man, who raises a hand in greeting before wrestling a chair down off the truck. "Yeah, 4-C. My brother's helping me out because the elevator's not working." 

"Yes, it has been that way for a month. But the fourth floor is not such a bad walk, unless you have furniture." Mako notices her fingers are still wrapped in his, and tugs them free. “I live in 4-A, across the hall, so we are neighbors." 

The grin spreads even further across his face, which Mako would have thought impossible, because it is already blinding. "Great! Um, I'm Raleigh." Jerking his thumb back at the truck, Raleigh sputters again. "That's Yancy - my brother - crap, I already said that. He lives in Cambridge, which is totally useless information." 

"I'm Mako. It's nice to meet you." His flustered babbling is charming and Mako shoulders her bag, walks over to the stack of boxes, picking two up. "Please, let me help." 

"Stop flirting with the lady and get your ass in gear, Rals. We're losing daylight," comes the shout from within the van, and then Yancy is peering at the empty space. "Oh. Hi. Sorry about that, he could talk the antlers off a moose, and I don't want to be dragging his crap off in the dark, have an early start in the morning." His smile is nearly as bright as his brother's when he reaches down to shake her hand. "Yancy." 

"Mako. May I take these?" 

Raleigh starts to protest, but Yancy silences him with a look, and Mako is reminded of Chuck for a moment, how she's able to get him to shut up like that. 

"She offered, so let's make some room for the lady." 

Mako drops the boxes off in the open apartment and drops off her bag at her place, stopping to change her clothes, some old navy military kit left over from Herc's days in the service she doesn't mind getting dirty. Mako spends the next two hours hauling boxes up the stairs with her new neighbor, who insists on buying pizza for the three of them when the van is empty. The brothers are competitive, running boxes up and down, and she has to suppress her laughter while they curse at each other finally hauling the couch. 

Surveying the stacks and piles of furniture covered in drop cloths, Mako wonders where exactly Raleigh’s planning on eating. 

"I have plates - and running water," she offers quickly, noticing the grime on her hands. "It’s probably better to eat in my kitchen." 

Yancy leaves to pick up their dinner, thanking Mako again for her help and Raleigh zeroes in on her sofa after scrubbing the dirt off his arms. It's giant, covered in some yellow neo-Baroque damask, an antique that caught her eye in Amherst, driving home after graduation. It's not the most stylish piece, not sleek like the rest of her apartment, but it's sinfully comfortable and it’s Mako's favorite thing in her home. Chuck makes excuses to spend his Sundays crashed on it during football season for the Patriots games, a tradition they both try to stick to as often as possible.

"You mind if I sit on your couch?" Raleigh motions to his clothing and Mako just shakes her head, ushers him onto it. 

"Please, go ahead." 

Raleigh sinks back against the overstuffed cushions and lets out something that sounds like a groan of pleasure. 

"So this is kind of sudden, and feel free to say no, but I kind of want to marry you, just for your couch. What do you say?" 

Mako laughs, surprised at his audacious question, but she sits down next to him, returning his infectious smile. "You know nothing of me but where I live. I could be very dangerous." 

"Don't need to know, don't care, this is perfect." His eyes close and Mako takes the chance to look at Raleigh, take in the handsome features of his face. Aesthetically speaking, he's lovely. She could certainly do worse for a neighbor.

Mako awakens to a knock on the open door and Yancy peeking his head into her darkened apartment. 

"Am I...interrupting something?" he asks cautiously, eyes darting around for his brother. Mako catches onto his meaning almost before he finishes and she can feel her cheeks flush, hands waving as she says no in at least three languages. 

Pointing to the sofa, his feet propped on the table and the soft snores coming from within the mound of pillows, Mako whispers, “he fell asleep."

"Thank God. Sorry, he's just prone to jumping in headfirst, didn't want him to creep you out on his first night across the hall." Yancy flashes that movie star smile again and sets the pizza on the counter. “He doesn’t need to put the moves on you.” 

"I can hear you, asshole." There's a rustle and Raleigh levers himself off the couch, rubbing at his eyes. 

"Just watching out for the lady, she was kind enough to haul your crap up four flights of stairs. Mako deserves a little respect." 

Raleigh rolls his eyes when Yancy turns, makes himself comfortable in Mako's kitchen, opening cabinets and tearing off paper towels with a practiced ease. "Speak for yourself." 

Mako just hands Yancy the plates and glasses, pulls a slice of pizza from the box and sits down, listens to the brothers bicker back and forth for the better part of an hour over pepperoni and cheese. 

It's not a terrible way to spend an evening.


End file.
